Review: Reckless Hope

Or a lot of risk, if you're Sebastian Carlisle. He'll never live up to the legacy of his dead brother, so why try? Being the wild child in a family of stuck-up rich snobs suits him just fine.

Until he meets Micah Burke, and everything changes.

Micah's got too much going on for a relationship. Even if he could trust Sebastian, a distraction—a sexy, reckless distraction with a death wish—would only derail his carefully scheduled life. If it were just Micah, maybe that would be fine, but his mother and sister depend on him, and he can't let them down. Or at least that's what he tells himself.

A hot moment leads to a hot night leads to a connection neither of them are ready for. And when a crisis hits Micah's family hard, Sebastian will have to shed his bad-boy image and decide whether he can be the man Micah needs—and Micah needs to decide whether he'll let him.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping track obsessively like me, Carina Press has been publishing some of the best LGBT romances for a while now. They have amazing editors and seeing their name on the cover is a guarantee of my enjoyment. Letting Go series by J. Leigh Bailey is no different.

I’ve read Reckless Hope twice since I received the advanced copy three months ago, and as much as I enjoyed it the first time, I loved it even more the second time around. Knowing how it all ends allowed me to truly savor the emotions, to experience everything alongside Sebastian and Micah and to appreciate the smallest details that made the story richer and that much more beautiful.

Micah has been alone for far too long, abandoned and betrayed in some way by every adult in his life. Now, with a dead father, a disabled and depressed mother and a younger sister in need of an attitude adjustment, Micah has no one to count on but himself. It’s not only that he doesn’t trust easily, it’s that he doesn’t trust at all, and why would he? Life has thought Micah many lessons, and very few of them have been good. As much as he might want to at times, Micah doesn’t let go, he doesn’t relax, and he certainly doesn’t rely on other people. So when he meets Sebastian who is his exact opposite, a gorgeous, reckless rich boy who seemingly has no regard for others or even for his own life, Micah doesn’t understand why his heart keeps pulling him back.

Sebastian has many faces, but none of them are honest. He is a very good actor with a shattered heart and no one to see him for what he truly is. Micah intrigues him for so many reasons and for the first time, Sebastian truly sees himself with someone for more than a night. But Micah refuses to play along, making Sebastian pull all the stops.

The journey of these two boys and their respective families will make your throat constrict due to injustice each of them suffers constantly. They are both products of circumstances, tragedies and events other people caused. It was so very painful to see them struggle with things like trusting someone and having someone to rely on, but every happy moment was so much more rewarding because of all that pain. Both Sebastian and Micah are fantastic characters with very complicated backgrounds. The birth of their love is something you’ll have to discover for yourselves.

I loved the first book in this series, but Reckless Hope really stole my heart. I would recommend it even to those who rarely read M/M fiction.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.

Clearly this is one book that I'll have to add to the wish list because books that you re-read and love even more are deserving of that for sure! Will have to make sure I have tissues handy when reading, since it seems this one is a potential tear jerker for me!

Omg this book sounds so great, Maja! Sebastian and Maja sound like amazing characters and I can only imagine how satisfying it must be to see them learn to trust one enough. Also really excited to hear that Carina Press has a bunch of LGBT romances coming out :D

I haven't read a lot of M/M fiction but I definitely want to so I love that you've been reviewing a lot of this genre lately. I'm definitely pushing this series up to the top of my TBR for winter. Thanks for putting it on my radar, Maja! :)

I so need to pay more attention to Carina. Yea, this sounds so good. I just love it when characters are so well drawn and just steal your heart. Need to make sure I pick up that first book. Yes, I wanna read in order. :D

Thank you for stopping by and commenting. If you're a fellow blogger, I'll visit and return the favor as soon as possible. If your're using Google+ to comment, please make sure that your blog link is clearly visible on your profile.

Unfortunately, this is now an award and tag free blog, but I do thank you for your consideration.

Library Members

Must Read in July

Just when Nevada Baylor has finally come to accept the depths of her magical powers, she also realizes she’s fallen in love. Connor “Mad” Rogan is in many ways her equal when it comes to magic, but she’s completely out of her elements when it comes to her feelings for him. To make matters more complicated, an old flame comes back into Rogan’s life…
Rogan knows there’s nothing between him and his ex-fiance, Rynda Sherwood. But as Nevada begins to learn more about her past, her power, and her potential future, he knows she will be faced with choices she never dreamed of and the promise of a life spent without him.
As Nevada and Rogan race to discover the whereabouts of Rynda’s kidnapped husband and are forced to confront Nevada’s grandmother, who may or may not have evil motives, these two people must decide if they can trust in each other or allow everything to go up in smoke.